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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  5. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. rush — hurry
  4. can — a tin
  5. mark — a grade
  6. mark — a trace
  7. can — to be able to
  8. cold — not warm
  9. degree — an amount
  10. wind — moving air
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. can — a tin
  13. wind — moving air
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. degree — temperature
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. mark — to pay attention
  21. perch — the fish
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. cold — an illness

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com